Goal difference could decide Police, Butali title race

The Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League title might be decided on goal difference when the two protagonists Kenya Police and Butali Warriors meet in the final match of the season on December 9.

Police, who beat Sikh Nairobi 1-0 at the weekend to tie with Butali at the top of the table with 54 points courtesy of Calvin Kanu’s goal, have assumed the league leadership after their controversial 16-2 win over Wazalendo was upheld, seeing them top the standings with 57 points.

Police were awarded three points by KHU after Wazalendo walked out of the pitch, protesting what they termed biased officiating in the November 3 match.

That leaves the law enforcers in pole position to retain their title as they just need to win their next match and draw the final tie of the season to be crowned.

Their next match is against Nakuru and if they prevail, they will need to force a stalemate against Butali to claim a second straight title.

Butali are, however, still in with a chance but they have to beat both Strathmore and Police in their remaining matches and hope the law enforcers do not outscore them.

That will see goal difference kick in and so far, Butali have an edge with 70 goals scored and 13 conceded while Police have netted 67 and let in 19.

“We need to focus and win the remaining fixtures. Although in the last match might need a draw, we are not getting carried away,” said Police skipper Oliver Echenje.

USIU-Africa and Strathmore also collected three points at the weakened courtesy of victories against Green Sharks (1-0) Parklands (4-1) on Sunday and Saturday respectively.

Victory saw USIU-Africa move up three positions to seventh on the log with 24 points while Strathmore, now on 32 points, displaced Green Sharks and Wazalendo to third.